Gem tag

All skill gems have keywords listed in the first line of the mouseover description. In addition to dividing the skills into groups, keywords largely determine which support gems and modifiers can modify a certain skill. The relationship is not strict, however.

Support Skill Keywords

While you can technically link any support gem to any skill gem, some combinations will have no effect. If a support gem contains one of the following keywords, the skill must have the keyword as well to be affected. Note that any skill with the Bow keyword counts as having Projectile.

• Aura: Generosity
• AoE: Concentrated Effect, Increased Area of Effect
• Attack: Additional Accuracy, Cast on Melee Kill, Endurance Charge on Melee Stun Faster Attacks, Life Gain on Hit, Point Blank
• Curse: Curse on Hit
• Duration: Increased Duration, Less Duration
• Melee: Endurance Charge on Melee Stun, Melee Damage on Full Life, Melee Physical Damage, Melee Splash, Multistrike
• Minion: Minion Damage, Minion Life, Minion Speed, Minion and Totem Elemental Resistance
• Movement: Minion Speed
• Projectile: Chain, Faster Projectiles, Fork, Greater Multiple Projectiles, Iron Grip, Lesser Multiple Projectiles, Pierce, Point Blank, Ranged Attack Totem, Slower Projectiles
• Spell: Cast on Crit, Cast on Death, Cast on Melee Kill, Cast when Damage Taken, Cast when Stunned, Faster Casting, Iron Will, Spell Echo
• Trap: Multiple Traps

For example, Freezing Pulse and Ethereal Knives get no benefit from being linked to Point Blank: although they are Projectiles, they are not Attacks.

Active Skill Keywords

AoE

See Area Damage.

• Strength: Anger, Cleave, Decoy Totem, Determination, Enduring Cry, Ground Slam, Herald of Ash, Infernal Blow, Leap Slam, Molten Shell, Molten Strike, Punishment, Rejuvenation Totem, Shockwave Totem, Static Strike, Sweep, Vitality, Warlord's Mark
• Dexterity: Cyclone, Detonate Dead, Explosive Arrow, Fire Trap, Freeze Mine, Grace, Haste, Hatred, Herald of Ice, Ice Shot, Lightning Arrow, Poison Arrow, Projectile Weakness, Rain of Arrows, Reave, Smoke Mine, Temporal Chains
• Intelligence: Arctic Breath, Assassin's Mark, Ball Lightning, Clarity, Cold Snap, Conductivity, Discharge, Discipline, Elemental Weakness, Enfeeble, Fire Nova Mine, Fireball, Firestorm, Flame Surge, Flameblast, Flammability, Frostbite, Glacial Cascade, Ice Nova, Kinetic Blast, Lightning Tendrils, Lightning Warp, Magma Orb, Purity of Elements, Righteous Fire, Shock Nova, Vulnerability, Wrath

Attack

See Attack Damage.

• Strength: Cleave, Dominating Blow, Glacial Hammer, Ground Slam, Heavy Strike, Ice Crash, Infernal Blow, Leap Slam, Lightning Strike, Molten Strike, Shield Charge, Static Strike, Sweep, Vigilant Strike
• Dexterity: Barrage, Blink Arrow, Burning Arrow, Cyclone, Double Strike, Dual Strike, Elemental Hit, Explosive Arrow, Flicker Strike, Frenzy, Frost Blades, Ice Shot, Lightning Arrow, Mirror Arrow, Poison Arrow, Puncture, Rain of Arrows, Reave, Spectral Throw, Split Arrow, Viper Strike, Whirling Blades, Wild Strike
• Intelligence: Power Siphon, Kinetic Blast

Aura

An aura is a permanent effect focused on your character that also affects nearby party members and minions. Auras reserve a portion of your mana pool. Most of them reserve a percentage of your Mana, only Clarity reserves a flat amount. See Aura.

• Strength: Anger, Determination, Purity of Fire, Vitality
• Dexterity: Grace, Haste, Hatred, Purity of Ice
• Intelligence: Clarity, Discipline, Purity of Elements, Purity of Lightning, Wrath

Bow

These skills require a bow to be used. They implicitly have the projectile keyword (see Projectile Damage).

• Dexterity: Barrage, Blink Arrow, Burning Arrow, Elemental Hit, Explosive Arrow, Frenzy, Ice Shot, Lightning Arrow, Mirror Arrow, Poison Arrow, Puncture, Rain of Arrows, Split Arrow, Tornado Shot

Cast

Skills marked with the Cast keyword deal secondary damage. Cast gems are not spells, and are therefore not affected by modifiers that would normally only modify spells.

• Strength: Herald of Ash
• Dexterity: Bear Trap, Detonate Dead, Herald of Ice
• Intelligence: Herald of Thunder

Chaining

Arc effectively has the Chain support built in, but can be linked to Chain for additional chains.

• Intelligence: Arc, Magma Orb, Vaal Arc

Chaos

Chaos is one of the five damage types; see Chaos Damage.

• Strength: Abyssal Cry
• Dexterity: Blood Rage, Poison Arrow, Viper Strike, Desecrate
• Intelligence: Summon Chaos Golem

Cold

Cold is one of the five damage types; see Cold Damage.

• Strength: Glacial Hammer, Ice Crash
• Dexterity: Elemental Hit, Freeze Mine, Hatred, Herald of Ice, Ice Shot, Purity of Ice
• Intelligence: Arctic Breath, Cold Snap, Discharge, Freezing Pulse, Frostbite, Frost Wall, Glacial Cascade, Ice Nova, Ice Spear

Curse

These skills weaken enemies to make them less dangerous or easier to kill. See Curse.

• Strength: Punishment, Warlord's Mark
• Dexterity: Projectile Weakness, Temporal Chains
• Intelligence: Assassin's Mark, Conductivity, Elemental Weakness, Enfeeble, Flammability, Frostbite, Vulnerability

Duration

Certain skills have an effect over time. In some cases, such as curses, reusing the skill will reset the timer.

• Strength: Abyssal Cry, Decoy Totem, Devouring Totem, Enduring Cry, Flame Totem, Immortal Call, Molten Shell, Punishment, Rallying Cry, Rejuvenation Totem, Searing Bond, Shockwave Totem, Static Strike, Warlord's Mark
• Dexterity: Animate Weapon, Bear Trap, Blink Arrow, Blood Rage, Explosive Arrow, Fire Trap, Freeze Mine, Ice Shot, Mirror Arrow, Phase Run, Poison Arrow, Projectile Weakness, Puncture, Smoke Mine, Temporal Chains, Viper Strike
• Intelligence: Arctic Breath, Assassin's Mark, Conductivity, Conversion Trap, Elemental Weakness, Enfeeble, Firestorm, Flame Dash, Flammability, Frostbite, Frost Wall, Lightning Trap, Spark, Summon Skeletons, Vulnerability

Fire

Fire is one of the five damage types; see Fire Damage.

• Strength: Anger, Flame Totem, Herald of Ash, Infernal Blow, Molten Shell, Molten Strike, Purity of Fire, Searing Bond
• Dexterity: Burning Arrow, Detonate Dead, Elemental Hit, Explosive Arrow, Fire Trap, Wild Strike
• Intelligence: Discharge, Fire Nova Mine, Fireball, Firestorm, Flame Dash, Flame Surge, Flameblast, Flammability, Incinerate, Magma Orb, Righteous Fire, Summon Raging Spirit

Lightning

Lightning is one of the five damage types; see Lightning Damage.

• Strength: Lightning Strike, Static Strike
• Dexterity: Elemental Hit, Lightning Arrow, Wild Strike
• Intelligence: Arc, Ball Lightning, Conductivity, Discharge, Herald of Thunder, Lightning Tendrils, Lightning Trap, Lightning Warp, Purity of Lightning, Shock Nova, Spark, Storm Call, Tempest Shield, Wrath

Melee

Some melee skills require certain weapons; see Melee Skills. These skills all deal melee damage.

• Strength: Cleave, Dominating Blow, Glacial Hammer, Ground Slam, Heavy Strike, Ice Crash, Infernal Blow, Leap Slam, Lightning Strike, Molten Strike, Shield Charge, Static Strike, Sweep
• Dexterity: Cyclone, Double Strike, Dual Strike, Elemental Hit, Flicker Strike, Frenzy, Puncture, Reave, Viper Strike, Whirling Blades, Wild Strike

Mine

See Mine Damage.

• Dexterity: Freeze Mine, Smoke Mine
• Intelligence: Fire Nova Mine

Minion

These skills let characters raise monsters to fight enemies; see minion damage.

• Strength: Animate Guardian, Dominating Blow, Summon Flame Golem
• Dexterity: Animate Weapon, Blink Arrow, Mirror Arrow, Summon Ice Golem
• Intelligence: Bone Offering, Convocation, Flesh Offering, Raise Spectre, Raise Zombie, Summon Chaos Golem, Summon Raging Spirit, Summon Skeletons,

Movement

Skills that move the character.

• Strength: Leap Slam, Shield Charge
• Dexterity: Blink Arrow, Cyclone, Flicker Strike, Smoke Mine, Whirling Blades
• Intelligence: Flame Dash, Lightning Warp

Projectile

See Projectile Damage.

• Strength: Flame Totem, Lightning Strike, Molten Strike
• Dexterity: Ethereal Knives, Frost Blades, Spectral Throw, Wild Strike
• Intelligence: Arctic Breath, Ball Lightning, Fireball, Freezing Pulse, Ice Spear, Incinerate, Kinetic Blast, Lightning Trap, Magma Orb, Power Siphon, Spark

Spell

See Spell Damage.

• Strength: Anger, Animate Guardian, Decoy Totem, Determination, Devouring Totem, Flame Totem, Immortal Call, Molten Shell, Punishment, Purity of Fire, Rejuvenation Totem, Searing Bond, Shockwave Totem, Summon Flame Golem, Vitality, Warlord's Mark
• Dexterity: Animate Weapon, Blood Rage, Detonate Dead, Ethereal Knives, Fire Trap, Freeze Mine, Grace, Haste, Hatred, Phase Run, Projectile Weakness, Purity of Ice, Smoke Mine, Summon Ice Golem
• Intelligence: Arc, Arctic Breath, Assassin's Mark, Ball Lightning, Bone Offering, Clarity, Cold Snap, Conductivity, Conversion Trap, Desecrate, Discharge, Discipline, Elemental Weakness, Enfeeble, Fire Nova Mine, Fireball, Firestorm, Flame Dash, Flame Surge, Flameblast, Flammability, Flesh Offering, Freezing Pulse, Frostbite, Frost Wall, Glacial Cascade, Ice Nova, Ice Spear, Incinerate, Lightning Warp, Magma Orb, Lightning Tendrils, Lightning Trap, Purity of Elements, Purity of Lightning, Raise Spectre, Raise Zombie, Righteous Fire, Shock Nova, Spark, Summon Chaos Golem, Summon Raging Spirit, Summon Skeletons, Tempest Shield, Vulnerability, Wrath

Totem

Totems are stationary summons that assist in battle. Note that many other skills can be turned into a totem with the Spell Totem or Ranged Attack Totem support gems. See totem damage.

• Strength: Decoy Totem, Devouring Totem, Flame Totem, Rejuvenation Totem, Shockwave Totem

Trap

Traps are skills that trigger when an enemy walks over it. Note that many other skills can be turned into a trap with the support gem. See trap damage.

• Dexterity: Bear Trap, Fire Trap
• Intelligence: Conversion Trap, Lightning Trap

Trigger

Certain gems can't be activated manually, and happen automatically when specific conditions are met.

• Strength: Cast when Damage Taken, Cast on Melee Kill, Vengeance, Reckoning
• Dexterity: Cast On Critical Strike, Cast on Death, Riposte
• Inteligence: Cast when Stunned, Curse On Hit

Vaal

Vaal Skills are special, more powerful versions of existing skills. They can be obtained from Vaal Vessels in Corrupted Areas or by using a Vaal Orb on a normal skill gem. Vaal Skills can only be used if they are fuelled with the souls of killed enemies.

• Strength: Vaal Glacial Hammer, Vaal Ground Slam, Vaal Immortal Call, Vaal Lightning Strike, Vaal Molten Shell,
• Dexterity: Vaal Burning Arrow, Vaal Cyclone, Vaal Detonate Dead, Vaal Double Strike, Vaal Grace, Vaal Haste, Vaal Reave, Vaal Rain of Arrows, Vaal Spectral Throw
• Intelligence: Vaal Arc, Vaal Clarity, Vaal Discipline, Vaal Cold Snap, Vaal Fireball, Vaal Flameblast, Vaal Ice Nova, Vaal Lightning Trap, Vaal Lightning Warp, Vaal Power Siphon, Vaal Righteous Fire, Vaal Spark, Vaal Storm Call, Vaal Summon Skeletons

Warcry

Warcries are active skills that provide situational benefits to players and are typically aligned with melee characters, because they only affect nearby enemies and allies. Warcries are not spells can therefore cannot be supported by support gems that specifically link with spells, such as Cast when Damage Taken. They all share a cooldown.

• Strength: Abyssal Cry, Enduring Cry, Rallying Cry